THE NIGHT USS BARB SENT WAR TO JAPAN’S SHORES
At 11:58 p.m. on July 23rd, 1945, Commander Eugene “Lucky” Fluckey stood in the conning tower of USS Barb, 950 yards off the coast of Karafuto. He watched eight sailors paddle toward Japanese territory in two rubber boats.
Eight men.
Unmarried.
Hand-picked.
And carrying a 55-pound bomb wired to a homemade micro-switch inside a pickle jar.
They were rowing straight toward the Japanese homeland.
No American combat troops had ever landed on Japan’s home islands.
These eight would be the first.
FLUCKEY AND THE BARB — A LEGEND BEFORE THE MISSION EVEN BEGAN
Fluckey was 31.
Five wartime patrols.
Seventeen ships sunk.
The only submarine skipper to fire rockets at shore targets.
During the Barb’s 45-day patrol, the crew:
Launched the first submarine-fired rockets in naval history
Bombarded coastal targets with deck guns
Sank cargo ships and patrol craft
But shipping targets had vanished by summer 1945.
Japan’s merchant fleet was ruined.
Convoys stayed in port.
The Navy needed new ways to hurt Japan.
Then came the idea—hit the railways.
The coastal line was booming with traffic.
In the last month alone, 400 trains had run along the very track the Barb now stared at—full of ammunition and troops moving south to repel a coming American invasion.
Destroy a train?
Useful.
Destroy the tracks?
Devastating.
The idea belonged to Chief of the Boat Paul “Swish” Saunders.
The target: a railway less than 2,000 feet from the beach.
Fluckey called for volunteers.
Every man aboard raised his hand.
He chose eight.
Requirements:
Unmarried. Former Boy Scouts.
Navigation and discipline were key.
If things went wrong, Fluckey had given them orders:
“Head north to Siberia. Survive as long as you can.”
But Fluckey had no intention of losing a single sailor.
Not on his command.
THE LANDING PARTY
12:07 a.m. — Touchdown on Japanese Soil
Lieutenant William Walker was first to step onto Japanese sand.
Behind him, seven sailors hauled the two rubber boats up the beach.
The beach gave way to pine trees, then a drainage ditch, then a coastal road.
Beyond that, 1,500 feet of open ground leading to the tracks.
Time to dawn: ~90 minutes.
Walker split the party:
Team 1 crossed the open ground first to secure the site.
Team 2 held back with Hatfield and the bomb.
No patrols.
No civilian traffic.
No barking dogs.
It felt unreal.
But dawn was coming.
THE BOMB
Enter Electrician’s Mate Third Class Billy Hatfield.
As a boy, Hatfield placed walnuts on tracks and watched trains crack them open.
Now, that childhood memory became Navy sabotage tech.
Inside a pickle jar:
a micro-switch
three batteries
wiring to a 55-pound scuttling charge
When a train rolled over the switch, the downward flex of steel rails would close the circuit.
Simple physics. Catastrophic results.
Hatfield dug between the ties.
Lowered the bomb.
Lined the switch beneath the rail.
Buried everything beneath gravel.
Time: 12:41 a.m.
The device was armed.
Now they needed a train.
EVACUATION UNDER THE CLOCK
12:47 a.m. — Departing the Tracks
They erased their footprints, brushed gravel smooth, hid all evidence.
They crossed the 1,500 feet back—more slowly this time, adrenaline drained.
The first signs of dawn were faint gray streaks.
1:05 a.m. — Launching the Boats
They reached the surf.
Shoved off.
Paddled hard.
1:18 a.m. — Aboard USS Barb Again
Fluckey greeted them with a simple check of his watch.
71 minutes ashore.
Zero casualties.
Mission status: pending.
THE WAIT
1:30 a.m.
No explosion.
2:00 a.m.
Still nothing.
2:25 a.m.
Dawn approaching. Hope fading.
Then—
2:32 a.m. — SONAR CONTACT
A surface contact moving landward at 30 mph.
A train.
Fluckey returned to the periscope.
2:37 a.m. — 4 miles
2:40 a.m. — 3 miles
2:42 a.m. — 2 miles
2:45 a.m. — 1 mile
No slowing.
No suspicion.
A fully loaded Japanese locomotive was barreling straight toward Hatfield’s device.
2:47 a.m. — THE EXPLOSION
The horizon flashed white.
A column of flame erupted 200 feet into the sky.
The locomotive’s boiler detonated.
It vaporized.
Cars behind it crushed forward:
Car 1: accordion-folded
Car 2: climbed and rolled
Car 3: flipped completely
Cars 4–16: derailed in violent succession
Secondary explosions rippled through burning cargo.
Barb’s crew felt the shockwave through the hull.
The bomb worked flawlessly.
The railway was obliterated.
Repairs would take weeks.
Japan never discovered sabotage.
Investigators blamed:
faulty boilers
bad coal
poor maintenance
No one believed eight Americans had landed on their beach, planted a bomb, and vanished.
THE ESCAPE AND RETURN
Fluckey ordered Barb to dive.
They patrolled three more days, listening to frantic Japanese radio chatter.
Every message blamed mechanical failure—not sabotage.
Mission accomplished.
July 26th — Heading for Midway
After 48 days at sea, fuel low and crew exhausted, Barb turned toward home.
August 2nd — Arrival at Midway
They were greeted by officers, photographers, and stunned personnel who’d learned of the mission.
The eight saboteurs underwent long debriefings.
Hatfield explained the pickle-jar switch.
Saunders described the landing plan.
Walker detailed the transit.
The Navy knew this had been a breakthrough.
A submarine—without torpedoes—had crippled enemy infrastructure on land.
AFTERMATH AND HONORS
September 18th, 1945 — Pearl Harbor
Japan had surrendered a month earlier.
Fluckey received his fourth Navy Cross.
He already held the Medal of Honor for his previous patrol:
the one where he attacked 30 ships in Namkwan Harbor, in waters so shallow the hull scraped rocks.
That patrol had been history-making.
The train operation made him legendary.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM ALL
Commander Eugene “Lucky” Fluckey
Stayed in the Navy 27 more years
Rose to Rear Admiral
Directed Naval Intelligence
Served as advisor to Portugal
Retired 1972
Passed away 2007 at age 93
Buried at the Naval Academy
Under his command, USS Barb never suffered a single combat casualty.
Not one Purple Heart was awarded.
The Landing Party
Most returned to civilian life quietly.
Billy Hatfield
Electrician for 40 years. Rarely discussed the war.
Paul Saunders
Retired Navy chief petty officer in 1955. Barb was the highlight of his career.
Lt. William Walker
Became a California lawyer. Attended submarine reunions but seldom spoke of Karafuto.
USS Barb
Sold to Italy in 1954
Renamed Enrico Tazzoli
Scrapped in 1972
Battle flag preserved at Submarine Force Museum
Will live on as the name of a future Virginia-class submarine: SSN-804
The flag includes a symbol no other submarine displays:
a locomotive.
The only train ever destroyed by a submarine in naval history.
THE REAL LEGACY
American submarines:
Sank 1,200+ Japanese merchant ships
Destroyed 30% of Japan’s navy
Strangled the wartime economy
But the story of USS Barb stands out.
Eight ordinary sailors.
A homemade bomb.
A submarine commander who refused to lose a man.
And the courage to bring the war onto Japan’s shore for the first—and only—time.
Hatfield’s switch detonated at 2:47 a.m. on July 23rd, 1945.
Three weeks later, Japan surrendered.
The train explosion didn’t end the war.
But it symbolized everything that made the U.S. submarine force extraordinary:
Ingenuity.
Audacity.
Precision.
Leadership.
And courage.
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